The Perks of Being a Scientist: Attending Plant Biology Meetings

I attended my first Plant Biology Meeting as a graduate student– and I was in awe. So many people, and I didn’t know a soul. It was scary and I thought I would drown in anonymity. And I was completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of scientific presentations. That changed very quickly though when my … Read more

2014 Plant Science Grant and Fellowship Opportunities

A handy list of plant science grant and fellowship opportunities with deadlines in early 2014. Please leave a comment if you know of other opportunities we should promote. ASPB Travel Grant Program for Plant Biology 2014 ASPB is offering up to 80 $575 grants for students, postdocs, and faculty beginning their careers to attend the … Read more

Plant Science Decadal Vision Rolls out at AAAS

On December 3rd, 2013, the National Plant Science Council partnered with the American Chemical Society; the Alliance of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Science Societies; and the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) to co-host a briefing on the report Unleashing a Decade of Innovation in Plant Science: A Vision for 2015-2025. The briefing was also … Read more

8 (and–a–half) Reasons to attend Portland PlantBiology 2014

This year’s meeting will be great! We’ll have the best science, an outstanding locale, plus new opportunities for connecting at every level. 1. Award-winning science will be featured in symposia and mini-symposia. This year, top scientists in the US (ASPB) will be joined by others from Canada (CSPB) and beyond, to speak in major and mini-symposia on … Read more

The Flowering of ORCiD: One ID to manage your scientific research across disciplines

If you recognize what the following string of 16 digits represents, you are welcome to stop reading: 0000-0002-4669-3215. If not, here’s a question: Wouldn’t it be cool if each scientist’s contributions to scholarship across all disciplines could be discovered, cited, and curated quickly and easily? That is exactly what the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCiD) … Read more

Give your Students Roots: Help students begin their career journey

One of the most meaningful perks of my job as a faculty member in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at UC Berkeley is the opportunity to mentor students – both undergrads and grads. My job also gives me the privilege to share with students my passion for doing plant science research, and to … Read more

How to Be a Hot Pick: Tips for Writing Abstracts

Communicating about your research to raise awareness and to get noticed is a critical skill. To be sure your abstract is a hot pick for talks, it’s important to use the right approach. Here are some tips and resources that can help your abstract get chosen. Consider Each Audience Reviewers will select your work for … Read more

Cultivating Safety

What do locks, alarms, TSA screenings, guard dogs, and plants have in common?  Each can deter danger.  Yes, you read that right. Plants can make stuff safer.  In fact, NOVA’s technology aficionado David Pogue explored cutting-edge examples of some leafy lifesavers in his PBS program, Making Stuff: Safer (airdate 11/6/13). So beyond thorns and prickly … Read more

Career Opportunities for Plant Scientists

Call me a nerd, if you wish; but the Career Tree, which I first saw in a report published over a decade ago by the European Science Foundation and the Human Frontiers Science Program, is one of my favorite images: The Career Tree depicts a plant, so it appeals to my innate pro-plant bias. (And … Read more

Life After the Government Shutdown

Last week marked the end of the first partial shutdown of the U.S. federal government since the Clinton administration. In the final days of the impasse, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) were able to broker a deal to reopen the government and raise the debt limit. The deal … Read more

Plant Biology 2013 Video: Facing the Challenges of the Future

Plant Biology 2013 President’s Symposium – Plant Biology’s Diversity Molds Our Future – Part 1 Organizer: Peggy Lemaux, University of California, Berkeley, CA Speakers: Cary Fowler, Genebanks: Past, Present, and Possibly Future Phil Pardey, The Shifting Structure of Food and Agricultural R&D Worldwide Jonathan Lynch, Roots of the Second Green Revolution James Dale (recording not being released), … Read more

Land Use, Climate Change, and Food Systems through the Belmont Forum

The National Science Foundation (NSF) released a Dear Colleague Letter announcing a funding opportunity from the Belmont Forum and the Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security, and Climate Change (FACCE-JPI). The Belmont Forum is supported by the G8 and emerging economies’ heads of research councils with the purpose of bringing together major funders of … Read more